The thing that tipped the scales in my decision to vote leave was coming to the conclusion that democracy is the exercise of sovereignty.
The nature Sovereignty is binary, you either have it or you don't, and I felt it is too valuable a thing to give up as it had been paid for by the ultimate sacrifices of previous generations.
I also realised that leaving the EU doesn't preclude trade or special immigration or visa arrangements to be negotiated between the UK and the EU. So while there is the threat that the EU members would want to punish the UK for leaving but they would also be hurting their own economies and since EU economic growth has been low I don't think they would want to do that.
As a Fintech entrepreneur in London a Brexit might hurt new venture prospects in the short run. It will be harder to raise money, possibly harder to recruit and might be harder to grow into Europe.
Having said that, there is nothing to say that it isn't possible to overcome these challenges, for example hiring devs to work remotely from Europe or from anywhere in the world for that matter.
The international stuff depends on the fine details, of course. Given the pound's likely to take a kicking in both the short and the long term being largely paid in dollars may have its upsides. But overall I'm not going to be at all thrilled if we end up voting Leave.
It is a shame that fear, lies and racism (which is, again, fear) make people consider leaving the EU, which is the single good thing that happened to Europe since the end of WW2. It is not just about what's the EU (several discussions including some in HN have shown once and again how the EU is completely democratic), but about what the EU could be.
I do respect their sovereignty to choose kicking out EU citizens and requiring them to go through the visa crap, but I can't help but feeling unwanted.
All the reasons to leave the EU seem naïve, as almost none of them will change (immigration, adherence to EU regulations, trade agreements, free movement of people) or, even worse, will be forced fed into Britain's mouth without the chance to vote against them.
If I finally have to leave, I wish them all the best as I consider them my friends, but I sincerely prefer to spend my time with friends that appreciate me as much as I appreciate them.
I sincerely hope that if a leave vote happens that your family and business life doesn't get disrupted and please don't think that all the people who voted to leave did so for xenophobic racist reasons.
But the whole premise of leaving is universally build on xenophobic racist reasons or started with xenophobic arguments. The line between Euroscepticism and Anti-Europeanism is very thin, there is a market for "Breaking point" ads.
The fact that 9/10 of most anti-European parties (even on the mainland or those a Nigel Farage is dweeping with) is xenophobic/racist from nature is extremely telling.
*As you would have regained sovereignty (sic), I guess you can't blame The Government or the politicians. It's something you have decided, hence you take the blame for any bad consequence (and praise for the good ones).
Disclosure: I'm a Canadian who worked in London for the past two years but recently left the UK (not related to Brexit :P).
However it is worth pointing out that although there is both a strong national identity in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and a somewhat disparaging view of England and the English; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own devolved Parliaments except England. Furthermore, people from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can vote on English laws dispite the reverse not being true.
I think it's likely that more power will be devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in exchange for keeping within the UK. One of the main reasons for Scotland to remain was that it would not be allowed to use the pound if it broke away.
Another key issue around a possible Scottish breakaway is Trident, the UK's ongoing independently-controlled nuclear deterrent. Trident is actually four submarines armed with ballistic missiles operated by the Royal Navy based at Clyde Naval Base on the west coast of Scotland.
The costs of needing to relocate personnel and the base would be a major sticking point in any Scottish breakaway negotiation.
Also the eurozone is extremely weak economically in part to needing to prop up the Euro and dealing with Greece.
The point I'm trying to make here is that although a majority of Scots voted to stay in the EU, I'm not certain of their fondness of breaking away from the UK completely and going all in on the EU.
What I think is more likely is that Scotland will do a sort of flip on how Greenland is within the Danish Realm and out of the EU but Denmark is part of the EU.
Having said that if the EU is looking like it will collapse then Scotland will stay.
I think immigration levels won't be effected.
1) UK has never been part of Schengen, hence it has border controls (regain control of our borders!). That won't change outside the EU. 2) As shown with English hooligans in France, you can kick out any EU citizen that's a problem or burden for your country. That won't change outside the EU.
So, leaving the EU won't give superpowers to UK's border control that didn't have before. Hence why I'm pretty sure the UK will very quickly sign the same treaties Switzerland and Norway have, thus pretty much leaving untouched the immigration topic. After the referendum, UKIP will have no meaning as their goals would be fulfilled hence the Tories would have no reason to lie to you anymore about immigration control, they'll just leave the doors open.
The only that would change and has actually changed already is all the xenophobia created towards EU nationals and that, my friends, is a two-way street. Hatred only brings hatred. I'm reading too many EU nationals saying things along the lines of "I hope they leave and sink", which is not fair to British people IMHO.
You've normalised racism and brought it into national debates and even have public figures with racist campaigns (e.g. Farage's famous latest stunt). How the public has found this acceptable is beyond my comprehension.
Anyway, it is a shame what this welcoming country has become in the last few years. I hope that, whatever the result, we can keep working together on building a great UK and a great Europe.
Everyone of them was founded in the EU but became a billion dollar startup while headquartered in London.
Developers, product managers, founders - it's hard to find any startup of size in London which doesn't draw 20-30%+ of it's staff from Europe (and beyond) - London has hugely benefitted from the talent pool of Europe. It's hard to imagine the startup scene existing without it.
(we also sponsor work visas for international staff, it's a nightmare compared to hiring someone from the EU)
I doubt it. I think the real immigration issue is to control unchecked migration from MENA countries. A lot of these migrants come from cultures and religions that are incompatible with Western values, and so it's important to be able to screen who comes into your country more carefully.